EDM Event Review - Hardwell at NYC's Governor's Island

The summer season is finally here and that means a few things for the NYC EDM community – one of them being weekends spent at Governors Island. Memorial Day weekend kicked off the summer season with a bang as Made Events brought the man behind Revealed Recordings -- Hardwell -- to the ‘Big Apple.’ He performed a 3-hour set in front of a sold out crowd. Hardwell was joined by label mate Dyro, Audien, Henrix, and Alex English in what was a Memorial Day weekend party that will not be forgotten by those in attendance.

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For those of you that have never been to Governors Beach Club, there is only one way to get there, by boat. The boat ride over is a crucial part of the experience that is Governors Beach Club. The island itself is nestled between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn and features an incredible view of the southern tip of Manhattan's skyline. The venue boasts a festival like stage and structure that is blended with sand, picnic tables, and illuminated palm trees. It is definitely one of the best venues in the city during the summer season.

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My friends and I got to the venue just in time for Audien’s set. This was my second time seeing the tri-state area up and comer and it was better than I remembered. The energy throughout the venue was contagious and he seemed to have complete control over the crowd. He dropped a nice blend of his originals and some expected tracks from the label. Some notables were the expected “Sup”, “Wayfarer”, his newest release “Ciao” as well as a classic like A&B’s "Thing Called Love."

Next on the bill was Revealed Recordings rising star Dyro. This had been my first time seeing Dyro perform and I was really impressed with his stuff. He had a two-hour slot and utilized that time to pack as many bangers as he could into his set. Some of his notable track selections consisted of his remix of Tommy Trash vs. The Ashton Shuffle’s track “Sunrise”, Oliver’s “MYB”, “Grid” and “Leprechauns and Unicorns”

By the time Hardwell was set to take the stage the sun had set and the lower Manhattan skyline was glowing across the harbor. The temperatures had dropped significantly but in the masses you could hardly tell. We had a 3-hour set ahead of us and with the crowd buzzing the "6th ranked DJ in the world by DJ Mag" took the stage and opened up with “Spaceman” mixed with the vocals to a “Thing Called Love” and off we went.

Hardwell played an array of tracks of his own and off his label, as would be expected, and seemed to deliver drop after drop. In the beginning of the mini marathon he played a bunch of his own productions like "Kontiki", his rework of his good friend Tiesto’s track “Love Comes Again”, “Cobra”, and continued to build from that point on. Other notables from the set were W&W’s newest release “Thunder” and, of course, “The Code” as well as their remix of Armin’s “This Is What It Feels Like”. He also blended an array of bootlegs, in classic Harwell fashion. Some other notables were “City of Dreams” by Alesso and Dirty South as well as Aoki’s remix of “Pursuit of Happiness”. The highlight of the night was when Hardwell hopped on the mic and announced that he was going to drop his latest collaboration with Knife Party, which made the crowd go absolutely insane.

Hardwell ended the night with an encore performance of “Spaceman” (not really sure how I feel about that) and brought Dyro back on stage to play “Never Say Goodbye” for the second time as well. As the night came to an end and we all got aboard the ferry to head back towards the bright lights of Manhattan it dawned on me that this was the first of many weekends spent at Governors… and that sounded great to me. Next up, Bingo Beach with the Bingo Players June 16th. See ya’ll there…